Fall Knits: Centripetal Sweater by Lauren Dahl

After knitting the cardigan for my mom, I wanted to knit a sweater for myself. I really like long, warm sweaters for the fall and winter that I can wear in the office kind of like a coat. I found the Centripetal Sweater by Lauren Dahl and fell in love with the simple design and beautiful detailing of the cables around the back and collar. It looked a little short for me, but found that by adding a stitch at the middle and end of each repeat of the circular body to the middle and then decreasing back up the other side, I was able to add length through the whole bottom section. I also decided to add a little color work to the innermost cables for a pop of color with a beautiful skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino Chunky I picked up on my trip to NYC (the body is Bernat Alpaca in Ebony, the better to hide kitty hair). Note that because the yarn I used was pretty fuzzy, the pattern isn’t as crisp as some of the examples knit by others on the project page. The cables are even more beautiful with a yarn that has better stitch definition.

I usually avoid knitting with chunky yarn, but it is perfect for the design and makes it a relatively quick project. I also found the directions to be pretty simple to follow and the description of the short row technique easy to pick up as I hadn’t done it before. I’d definitely recommend this design.

Knit Gift: Hitofude Cardigan

Its been a while since I’ve posted any knits because I’ve been working on a larger piece as a gift for my mom: the Hitofude Cardigan. She was looking for a unique lace cardigan that she could wear in the fall and spring, so we hit Ravelry and started looking through the boundless pattern library. After narrowing it down to a few options, we decided on the pattern by Hiroki Fukatsu for its timeless elegance and simple lines. The beautiful pictures made it an easy choice and the recommendation of Madelinetosh Merino Light gave us a huge selection of beautiful colors to choose from. (I recommend taking a look in the projects gallery on ravelry to be inspired by the beautiful variety of colors.)

I would highly recommend this pattern to anyone wanting to make a lace cardigan. The pattern is well written and so beautiful in its simplicity. It is knit all in one piece with seaming under the arms. The lace pattern is very easy to memorize but gives the knitting process enough variety for a longer project. It was so easy to make I am considering putting it on the list to make one for myself in the future.